Lights came on, activated the HUD, and displayed the little spinning flower that told her the suit had begun to boot up. It took a little longer than it normally did. That was entirely to be expected, of course, as the software she had spent so much time painstakingly installing began to merge with the rest of the suit.
Finally, a soft chime drew her attention as the HUD illuminated a little brighter than usual before it returned to its original settings. It felt like something—or someone—was stretching, testing, and waking up to slowly adjust to the setting of the mech suit.
"Is…someone there?" Jessica13 asked, her heart in her throat. "Can you hear me?"
A soft whir of movement was heard in the headset as something activated and finally, a voice modulator came online without her having done anything to call it up.
"Minato beta 0.9, Shimura-Sendai Systems, online,” said a metallic yet still soft feminine voice she had never heard before. "Good morning, Jessica13. Correction, the clock update tells me it's well into the afternoon. Good afternoon, Jessica13."
She vaguely heard herself say something. It was more an exclamation of surprise, relief, and elation as she watched the AI core light up like an actual human brain would.
"I am sorry, I do not know the meaning of 'ptah!'" the AI said.
"I… Well, it wasn't exactly a word, more an exclamation," she explained.
"Very well, I shall register it into my audio databanks as your exclamation. Now, how can I help you today, Jessica13?"
"How do you know my name?" she asked.
"I have updated my knowledge banks with all the data that was collected by you on your previous usage of the Minato mech suit," the AI replied. "The data was all collected and stored in the hard drives for my convenience and yours. I am told by said data that you like to refer to me as Mini. Is that still in effect or would you like to peruse the alternatives for another nickname? I have a wide selection stored."
Well, she was certainly more accommodating than the AI running the elevator, that much was certain. Maybe it had something to do with Mini not having to run an elevator up and down all day long. She was told that the more complex AIs tended to get bored when they were left to their own devices.
"Mini works for me," Jessica13 said. “It fits, somehow, and I kinda like the idea of two girls working together.”
“I should inform you that I was designated male at production, although to an AI, gender is of little concern.”
Well, damn. She really hadn’t expected that and wasn’t sure what she felt about it. In her head, Mini had always been a girl. Besides, she spoke like a girl.
“Uh…okay, Mini, I can work with that but one thing has me confused. How come you were designated as male but you were given a female voice modulator? What's up with that?"
"The distinction is not important but when I was re-purposed from the crate, they gave me the wrong modulator," the AI explained. "Since I was inactive at the time, they didn't bother to replace it. You're actually the first one to hear my voice since I was programmed in the factory and my core was placed in the Minato.”
Jessica13 grimaced. It would take a while to adjust to this unexpected twist, especially with a female voice constantly in her ear, but she could do it. Honestly, Mini was Mini, and if she was actually a he, who was she to complain? A working AI was more important than a little gender confusion, right?
"I have to say,” she said hurriedly to move the conversation away from the gender discussion, “I have worked on trying to get you activated in the suit for a while now, but from the looks of your data banks, you have been unused for much longer. How long, do you estimate?"
"There is no need for estimation," Mini said. "I have been inactive for thirty-five thousand, six hundred and forty-two days, seventeen hours, thirteen minutes. An estimation could say that I have been inactive for almost a hundred years."
"What made you go inactive? What caused the corruption in your systems?"
There was a pause and more whirring in the background. "Data not found. There is still significant corruption in my data stores. I can tell that something attacked my core as it caused the protection programs to activate and locked my consciousness inside the core to protect me. In human terms, you could say I was trapped in my own body, unable to move of my own volition."
"That sounds…horrifying." Jessica13 shook her head in sympathy. "I'm so sorry."
"Your apology is unnecessary but appreciated.” A smiley face appeared on the HUD. "It is unlikely that you were involved in the corruption of my data core almost a hundred years ago. With that said, if you are still interested in finding out what caused my data corruption, the coding you were able to collect to correct the corruption in my AI core can be utilized to continue the process in my data banks."
"That would be great, thanks," she said while she looked around and checked the banks that had been mentioned. "How long do you think it would take you to get everything…uncorrupted? Is that the right word?"
"My extensive thesaurus collection tells me that is the correct word for the situation. And a great deal of data has been collected over the past century, so there will be considerable work. I can carry it on my back processors even when the mech is in sleep mode if you would like."
"I would like," she said.
"If you could please authorize the task on your HUD?" Mini asked and called it up on the screen for her to authorize, which she did.
"Oh, and Mini?" she
